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Westminster Council lists own ALMO on rogue landlord database
Westminster City Council has fined its ALMO £15,000 and listed it on Sadiq Khan’s Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker for consumer rights breaches.
It comes after the council’s trading standards department investigated City West Residential, a letting agent subsidiary of City West Homes, which manages the borough’s 21,000-unit housing stock.
The company was found to have breached Section 83 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 for failing to display its letting fees accurately on its website.
City West Homes has now been listed on the Greater London Authority’s register of rogue landlords and letting agents, which was launched by London mayor Mr Khan in December.
Westminster is one of 10 boroughs to have backed the checker so far.
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Oliver Miller, director of City West Residential, said: “We have accepted and rectified the technical infringements of the Consumer Rights Act identified on our website and have paid in full the associated fines.
“We can confirm that no customer suffered financially as a result of the error and since rectifying the issue we have had confirmation from the Guild of Property Professionals to say that our website is fully compliant.”
Established in 2009, City West Residential was the first letting agent to be set up by an ALMO and now manages 1,000 tenancies across the borough.
Its website lists 10 different letting fees, including a £258 tenancy set-up fee, up to £210 in inventory fees and a £60 “pets disclaimer fee”.
A family of four with a pet letting through the agent would need to pay more than £1,000 in fees for a new tenancy.
A spokesperson for Westminster City Council said: “We fined CityWest Residential in December 2017 for not publishing relevant information on their website, which they simply should have done.
“Although these technical breaches have been remedied we feel it is very important that people have the right information, in this case details of agent’s fees amongst other things, so they can make the best choices for themselves when trying to rent a home.
“The Council holds CityWest Residential to the same high standard it holds all letting agents operating in Westminster, ensuring their customers receive the service they deserve and we will always act in the best interests of local people and consumers.”
Update: at 9.28am, 19/02/18: A statement from Westminster City Council was added to the story.
